Airbus ramps up Make in India, tops $500-million annual procurement

New Delhi : Every Airbus commercial aircraft produced on Monday is partly ‘Made in India’, Airbus Group said as the European aerospace major announced that it had exceeded the USD 500 million annual procurement mark from India in 2015.

The group claimed that it is a first for any foreign aerospace and defence original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in India. Over 6,000 people at more than 45 suppliers, both public and private, are directly engaged in providing engineering and IT services, aero-structures, detail parts and systems, materials and cabins to the group for several of its leading platforms, including A380, A350 XWB, A320 Family, A330, C295W, A400M, Eurofighter, Tiger and NH90.

The group has now set its sights on exceeding USD 2 billion in cumulative procurement, covering both civil and defence, in the five years up to 2020.

The last year’s figure represents a 15 per cent growth over 2014. Overall, Airbus Group’s procurement from India has grown 16 times in the last decade. Today, every Airbus commercial aircraft being produced is partly Made-in-India, a statement by the company said.

“Indian suppliers are a cornerstone of our globalisation strategy,” said Klaus Richter, Chief Procurement Officer, Airbus Group and Airbus. “Many of the projects with our Indian partners have been very successful and we aim to further strengthen these relationships in future.”

Pierre de Bausset, President and MD, Airbus Group India, said the group is already making in India via its suppliers and this is independent of any offset obligations.

“If our proposals to produce the C295W military transporter in India together with Tata and military helicopters along with Mahindra materialise, we will help set up system integration and final assembly lines which will spawn an Indian defence supplier base that will be second to none globally,” he said. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) makes half of the entire A320 Family forward passenger doors produced worldwide. Dynamatic Technologies makes flap track beams for the A320 family on a global single-source basis and was given the contract last year to manufacture them for the A330 family. Flap track beams are the assemblies on which the wings extend and retract every time the aircraft takes off and lands. Mahindra Aerospace is on contract from Premium Aerotec, an Airbus Group company, to supply more than a million aero-components per year. Aequs has recently inaugurated a dedicated machining facility in Belagavi, the largest of its kind in India, adding to a pre-existing sheet metal, assembly and forging facility and special process operations for Airbus commercial aircraft programmes. UTC Aerospace Systems makes evacuation slides, interior and exterior lighting, power drive units, auxiliary motors and passenger supply cabin modules for all Airbus commercial aircraft while Axis Cades and Quest provide engineering services for the fuselage and wing and pylon sections, respectively, through dedicated design centres, each employing over 200 engineers.